People Turn to Social Media to Share Major Milestones, Presenting Opportunities for Marketers

Think back to the last significant milestone of your life,
be it a wedding, a birth, a graduation or any other moment you consider to be
important. Did you share it on social media?

According to the Q4 2017 Sprout Social Index, 79% of people have shared a life milestone on social media and 1 in
3 would mention a brand when doing so. I’m sure you have noticed too that these
posts, given how they cover moments and accomplishments deemed significant,
tend to achieve a high reach, plenty of likes, and a lot of comments and
interactions as compared to the typical day-to-day status update. This presents
marketers with opportunities.

When mentioning brands in these posts the index asserts that
1 in 3 individuals (34%) simply want to thank the brand for being part of the
moment (rising to 41% among Millennials), while 50% are in fact taking the
opportunity to recommend the brand to friends, family, and followers. Given how
recommendations from friends and family remain the most credible form of advertising for 83% of today’s consumers,
it is somewhat unsurprising that as many as 48% of the survey’s >1,200 respondents
have made a purchase for a milestone after seeing it on social media. By
properly utilising this influx of user-generated content in their social
strategies, companies can gain much benefit from these mentions.

As for which platforms people turn to in order to find recommendations
when planning major life events more than half of consumers (51%) use Facebook,
ranking it above any other source. Following closely behind are Pinterest (42%)
and YouTube (34%), likely due to their personality-driven and highly visual
nature. Instagram, despite also possessing a highly visual nature, is used in
such a manner by a surprisingly low 24% of consumers, though this figure does
somewhat-expectedly rise to 35% among Millennials.

The key for marketers is to ensure that their brand/product
is on the receiving end of these positive mentions and recommendations,
allowing them to better tap into the massive pool of consumers who congregate
on these prominent social media platforms. You may want to consider the use of
incentives to motivate consumers to share in such a way, such as popping into
the occasional comments thread to offer discount vouchers to those who have
praised your brand. It is also essential to remember however that the defining
trait of these platforms, as the name suggests, is ‘social’, and so it is
important that you actively try to connect with your audience rather than
spamming them with generic- copy-and-paste responses that reek of disingenuous
interest.